It was a beautiful way to start the holiday weekend — with a people-filled opening.

Two artists selected for the Bambi Biennial came from as far away as New Orleans and Oklahoma City. And both of them flew in for the opening. Hugh Meade, from Oklahoma City, was looking to meet artists with whom he could talk about exchanging shows between Philly and his city, which he says is full of great art and lots of artists. The other flyer, Alissa Eberle, recently moved to NOLA from New York, so she took a detour to the Big Apple before showing up in Philadelphia.

We learned that Austin Lee (accompanying girlfriend Katrina Mortorff whose work was in the show) had auditioned for the reality tv show Work of Art; and we learned that sometimes work intended for a show doesn’t make it for the opening — it happened to Marie Perrin McGraw whose abstract ceramic creatures were tied up in some package delivery warehouse and haven’t yet made it to the gallery (we hope they’ll arrive this week). Here are snapshots of happy folks. We hope you enjoyed your weekend, too. We had fun playing hooky.

John Woodin (his photos are in the show), with his wife, artist Amy Orr, and their handsome pooch, BeauHugh Meade, posing with his wooden shoes. Meade flew in from Oklahoma City and hoped to meet folks and instigate some Philly/Oklahoma City art exchangesKatrina Mortorff (with her $1M broom) and Austin Lee. Lee's in a show at Seraphin Gallery right now.Michael Bednar is posing with Photoshopped doppelgangers that deserve an Oscar for world's funniest self-portraits.Alissa Eberle from New Orleans who is the cat photographer. We told her all about the Kat Culchur show at FLUXspace this month.Bobby Gonzales also has a couple of pieces in the show.Emily Ledieu gets a kiss from Joel, while Jay Walker's art looks on.Justin Rubich just graduated from UArts. He couldn't be happier about getting into the show! His word-art piece, all in sequins, is behind him, but it's virtually invisible here.Phil DiWilliams, whose paintings are in the showMontana Torrey and her boyfriend perched on her sculpture, Widow's Watch. They are decked out in their July 4th finest.Tim Eads and Tiernan Alexander stopped in to see work by friend Marie Perrin McGraw, whose work alas was orbiting in shipping company hell.Crowd watching The Art of the Steal on the big screen tv in the Piazza right outside Bambi Gallery.

Apart from one accident with a viewer knocking into the artwork and damaging it, a great time was had by all. But what about the scene out in the Piazza, you may want to know. Well, imagine our surprise when we discovered people sitting on chairs watching what the Friends of the Barnes call a documentary. We call The Art of the Steal bald-faced propaganda.

If you want to see some of the work, you can find it on libby’s and roberta’s flickr sites.